Web Accessibility Guidelines

Ideally, applying a11y (accessibility) guidelines should be a part of the development process, rather than an afterthought.

I propose the following steps:

Steps to perform an a11y audit

1/ Automatic testing

There are a handful of these types of tools. All of them run an audit check and provide a list of things to change. These tools are described here in more detail: https://a11y.coffee/start-testing

• WAVE Web Accessibility Evaluation Tool: in my opinion it is the tool that gives a quickest and most visual overview. I’d start here. https://wave.webaim.org/

• Additional tools that provide similar information:

  • Firefox a11y audit in Firefox developer tools (recommended)

    • In a11y dev tools tab, select: “All issues”, “show tabbing order”, and color deficiency simulations

  • Chrome's lighthouse audit in chrome developer tools

  • Axe browser extension https://www.deque.com/axe/

  • Accessibility insights

In my opinion, running one of the above should be enough to cover this point.

2/ A11y checklist

Use an a11y checklist to discover issues that automated tools might have overlooked: https://www.a11yproject.com/checklist or https://webaim.org/standards/wcag/checklist

3/ Manual testing

Cross-check the following use cases:

• Interactive elements should follow ARIA guidelines: https://www.w3.org/TR/wai-aria-practices/

• Each page should be keyboard navigable

• Each page should be screen reader navigable (navigate with closed eyes using keyboard and a screen reader)

• Focus styles should be apparent

• Touch points should have appropriate dimensions on touch device sizes: 48x48pt minimum for touchable areas, and 32pt of space in between touchable elements

• View site in grayscale, make sure it is readable (use nocoffee from the resources section)

• View site in high contrast mode, make sure it is readable (use nocoffee from the resources section)

• View site at 200% magnification

Resources

General resources

• https://www.w3.org/TR/wai-aria-practices/ Main resource for WAI-ARIA guidelines

• https://a11y.coffee Quick intro to the concept of a11y

• https://webaim.org/techniques/skipnav Skip navigation link

• https://webaim.org/techniques/css/invisiblecontent Invisible content for screen readers

• https://css-tricks.com/accessible-svgs A11y for svg

Tools and extensions

• https://wave.webaim.org/

• Chrome lighthouse

• AXE

• Microsoft accessibility insights, can be also used to test a11y for desktop and mobile apps

• https://accessgarage.wordpress.com/2013/02/09/458/ (download chrome extension nocoffee and use it to simulate different levels of visual impairment)

• https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/screen-reader/kgejglhpjiefppelpmljglcjbhoiplfn Screen reader chrome extension (annoying, will force you to reinstall / uninstall each time to keep your sanity)

• https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=MaxvanderSchee.web-accessibility VSCode extension

Checklists

• https://www.a11yproject.com/checklist

• https://webaim.org/standards/wcag/checklist

Courses

• https://www.udacity.com/course/web-accessibility--ud891